Days 1 & 2 Arrival
3-4 January 2005
Professor Heun told us during our first meeting to expect the unexpected in South Africa. Man was he right. However, when he told us that, I figured the unexpected would be waiting for us in South Africa-not calling us at roughly 10:45pm (when we were still in Meijer buying things for the trip) telling us that we would be leaving by bus at 1 AM from Calvin instead of by plane at 5:30 AM. Our flight had been canceled because our crew was sick, so we were off to Detroit to catch a plane about the same time as our flight in GR that would take us to Atlanta. That was a crazy night, especially for us non-Michiganders who had just gotten in and were still not packed yet!
Regardless of the earlier departure we were on the road to Detroit by 1:20 AM and we even arrived a bit early for our flight. Next we were off to Atlanta to meet up with 3 people who were flying directly there to catch our connecting flight to Africa.
From Atlanta we embarked on our journey across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa with a stop on Sal Island in Cape Verde and Johannesburg for refueling, drop off and pick up. During this two-day adventure, we entertained ourselves by watching movies, listening to music, and playing games on the interactive TV screen that was attached to the back of each seat.
We finally arrived at Cape Town about 2pm on Tuesday the 4th. After picking up our luggage and going through customs we waited for our vans to arrive so we could go unpack and shower at Cornerstone University. However, once the vans got there we realized that there weren't enough seats in these two vans, so we had to wait for a complementary car to show up.
A while later it showed up and the next adventure was watching the drivers learn how to drive backward sticks since South Africa drives on the left side of the road instead of the right side like us. That was a good time. J When we arrived at Cornerstone we all took showers and got ready to go eat at The Africa Cafe in downtown Cape Town. This was a very interesting experience. There was no need to order because everyone ate the same thing?everything. The feast was made up of dishes from all over Africa and if you liked something you could order as much of it as you would like?however there were so many dishes to get through you were pretty much stuffed by the time the last dish. The food was great, but the entertainment was the best.
While dessert was being served the staff sang and danced for us and even sang Happy Birthday to me (it was my 21st birthday!) in two different languages and gave me a really cool hand-painted candlestick. That was an unforgettable birthday! By the time we left the restaurant it was about 10 PM, so we headed back to where we were staying and went to bed, because it had been almost 2 days since we had any real sleep. Well I am off to go experience more of the South African culture and I hope you all keep checking in and keeping up to date with our travels and adventures. I miss you all and can't wait to see you all when I get back!
Love Ya Lots~
Audra Groenendal